Saturday, June 13, 2009

Whole Lotta Bakin' Goin' On

What fun! Baking on the new kitchen island from Ikea (see previous post- baseball in Pittsburgh)

Resourcefulness is called for with no cookbooks here. WOBs left almost all 400+ of them in DC. No fear - Marcy Goldman's www.BetterBaking.com is totally trustworthy!

First - I baked a birthday cake for Ken's birthday party tonight, having been told by his wife Marcie that yellow cake with chocolate frosting is his favorite, I found BetterBaking.com"s Perfect Birthday Cake and a recipe for Pure Fudge Icing attached to a recipe for Brown Sugar Sour Cream Chocolate Cake (sounds good, doesn't it?) that I will have to try another time.

Going to DC tomorrow for WOBSOD's (my Older Daughter) baby baby shower (that's a shower for twins) so I baked two kinds of biscotti - also from BetterBaking:

Dulce de leche
- with a thin layer of the stuff in the middle,

and Chocolate Cinnamon Sheet Biscotti.

Please remember that WOBs lives in a log cabin (doesn't start with a B - but it is the middle letter) and the oven is old and inconsistent. I'd never made the chocolate cinnamon biscotti before and the first baking ended up so underdone that the middle was still somewhat batter-y. More resourcefulness got them onto the cookie sheet, baked longer than instructed for the second baking. They may look misshapen, but I have been assured by Mr. WOBs that the taste is just fine.

Also books:
Michael Connelly's The Scarecrow on my iPod is a wonderful book to bake to ( WOBs wants to know if you listen to audiobooks while you bake), and The Unlikely Voyage of JackDeCrow by AJ Mackinnon gave me something to read while the oven did its work. I would have never heard of this book without a recommendation from someone I spoke with at a political fundraiser. It's a memoir of a Mirror boat trip from North Wales to the Black Sea, written gently and intelligently and with a huge appreciation for the surrounding world.

My ball of yarn, Baby Bunny, is being used to knit the subject of a future post. Since I'm not giving it away in advance you'll just have to check back here sometime soon.

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Monday, June 08, 2009

Baseball in Pittsburgh

A trip to Ikea for a kitchen island turned into a drive to Pittsburgh - 4 hours away- and WOBs second game of the season.

The Pirates played the Mets (WOBs' team) at 12:30 which was exciting enough and then - oh boy - free tickets ! Waiting on line at the box office, two guys offered WOBs and Mr. WOBs free tickets behind home plate. They were sitting next to us and wouldn't even accept the beers we offered them.

What a place to take in a game. Behind the outfield is the Roberto Clemente Bridge and the skyline of Pittsburgh. Even on a cloudy day, PNC Park is a great place to watch baseball.

Lots of hitting, even thought the Mets fell apart mid-game. Watching Andrew McCutchen, lead-off hitter for the Pirates was the highlight for WOBs. His first at bat of this game was his first at bat in the majors and he hit a single on the 3-0 pitch. The fans and he were very excited and he was given the ball. He scored on that hit and he hit again and scored again later in the game.

Mr. WOB helped keep score, creating a new notation system which includes drawings of food items and neighborhood icons: egg white omelet and our neighbor's new raft. See if you can figure them out; WOB can't keep their significance straight and will keep to the lines on the diamonds in the future.


After the game we went to Oakland to eat at the O. Great fries with gravy - mediocre burgers and crazy ambiance. Was the well-dressed gentleman waiting at the other side of the table talking to himself, or did he have a hidden cell phone?


Other Bs:

Book - Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Baking - Adirondack cookies from Marcy Goldman at BetterBaking.com

Balls of Yarn - Harry's Sailor sweater by Kristen Rengren from Vintage Baby Knits in Tess' Designer Sock and Baby Yarn.

Enjoy the game!

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